Racing through the pages and rising to the conclusion,
It's gonna take a standalone to sweep me off my feet!

I need a standalone!

I'm holding out for a standalone 'til the end of the night
It's gotta be good
No, it's gotta be great.
And it's gotta be fresh from the press.

I need a standalone
I'm holding out for a standalone 'til the end of the night.
It's gotta be good,
No, it's gotta be great!
And it's got to be fresh from the press.

I need a standalone!

I'm holding out for a standalone 'til the morning light.

Up where the shelves meet the ceiling

Out where the books stretch as far as the eye can see
I could swear that there's a standalone somewhere
Waiting for me
Through the sequels, saga and the series
And the quartet and the trilogy

I can feel its approach
Like a fire in my blood

I need a standalone!
I'm holding out for a standalone 'til the end of the night
It's gotta be good
No, it's gotta be great
And it's gotta be fresh from the press!
I need a standalone!

I'm holding out for a standalone 'til the morning light,
It's gotta be without a prequel
And it's gotta be released

And it's gotta be able to stand on it's own.

I need a standalone!

Okay, so maybe the need for a standalone isn't quite that desperate. And I'll admit, parts of my revamped lyrics don't quite match up but I couldn't resist anyway.

It seems as if everything flooding the shelves these days have at least one sequel if not several. Standalones seem to be getting more and more rare which is discouraging for a girl like me who enjoys them so. Money is usually tight and series add up quickly, I love being able to get everything one book. Omnibus' and other compiled volumes are great but still, I love me some standalones. I love knowing that everything is going to be wrapped up in that one book, that I'm not going to have to anxiously await an accompanying volume. I'm an extremely impatient person in case you haven't noticed.

These days I feel as if I'm drowning in unfinished series, I just can't keep up with the books as they come out. There's too many of them. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many series I'm in the middle of right about now. And being the type of person that devours series like Pringles potato chips it's hard to keep up with schoolwork and books for review because if they are available to me I'm just going to devour a series all in a row. That's why I love standalones, because I can afford to sneak a few of them in every now and again with few repercussions.
Where do you guys stand on the standalones versus series debate? Have you discovered any good standalones? Found great ways of dealing with the soaring series prices? Pass it along!

12 comments:

Love your song!!I agree. I do love series, but lately I'm feeling like every YA book has to have a cliffhanger and two more books to follow. Sometimes a story needs three volumes to be told. But other times, it really doesn't.

That's how I'm feeling too. I pick up a book that's supposedly a standalone and the next thing I know there is a planned prequel or sequel. Almost every book I've gone to pick up I've discovered is part of a series. It's discouraging. I like knowing that when I pick up a book I have the whole of it right there, I'm not a Victorian...my stories don't need to all be in installments.

I've actually contemplated on numerous occasions not starting any newly released book that will be part of a series until I'm able to finish the books in a series I have yet to complete. Like you, I have too many to count that are not completed.

The problem with many series is that they shouldn't be a series or a trilogy in the first place, in my opinion. Many trilogies I've read, the second book is just filler and fluff to get us to book three...what's the point in that? Do pubs want us to spend more money on books? That might me the case... If that's so, can't we meet at a happy medium and have more novellas published and less full novels?

I'm working on that now. I've been buying sequels bit by bit trying to play catch up, but some of these series feel as if they are never going to end and I know I'm missing out on some really awesome books in the meantime.

You just voiced one of my biggest issues right there! I'm really starting to get annoyed with the filler books. I know they have to be there, to some extent, in order to get from point A to point B but at the same time the book itself isn't any good. I like the idea of putting that information into a novella, provided they price it right. Or maybe epilogues and prologues? There has to be some way of doing it so I don't feel ripped off.

I got frustrated with this last year because I was having to go back to read the previous bk before a new release just to remember what was going on. So I counted the series I was reading. I stopped counting at 43. (that included over 30 love triangles but that's another topic) I realized there was no way that I could continue all of these plus start NEW series so I went though them and dumped any series that I had to try to remember who a character was or what the plot was. I ended up with under 10. Those I love and I'm in it until the end. I very rarely start any new ones now preferring to wait until it's over and read them all at once.I agree with Jacinda. Very few series should be a series. I'm on trilogy overload at this point. I actively search for stand alones but there really aren't that many. Sorry for the rant but you got me going lol

Don't apologize for your rant! That's what these posts are for. Getting all of that off your chest and finding others that feel the same. Or, you know, going my route and rewriting song lyrics to fit. :]

I've been wanting to do that myself. I've actually been giving up a lot of books, if I can't immediately recall what it was about the series that made me want to read it then off it goes. But I still feel as if I have too many going at once.

I'm at the point where if it's a series I think I will be interested in I just try to gather the books to do a straight read through once the series is complete. That way I don't have so many going at once. You're right, it makes things easier.

I agree! I feel like there are too many series being produced right now. I keep picking up books, reading them, and only realizing at the end that they are part of a series. I wonder if publishers are encouraging them?

I also think it can be harder to write a standalone, and I appreciate that. I mean, you have to have all your character development and plot fit into one book. Your really have to deliver - it's sort of like your one chance. Sometimes, and this certainty isn't with all authors, it seems a story line can be dragged out because an author doesn't know how to properly fit it all into one book, when it would actually work better that way.

That's what has been happening to me too. I'm starting to get antsy now when I'm nearing the end of the book and there's no resolution in sight...it's gotten to where I can almost see the series coming.

As for publishers encouraging them, I was wondering about that myself. I'm not really sure.

As for the difficulty level in writing a standalone I totally get what you mean. There's a lot more you have to get into a single book. Characterization, resolutions for all loose ends and so on. I can see why series would hold appeal for most authors. As a reader though, who would like to be an author, I think I would almost be more intimidated by a trilogy for example because of the dreaded second book...you know the one where it is basically just preparing you for the last one? It seems in that way a series would be harder to write because readers would expect the same from all of the books, not just the first and final. It kind of works both ways.